Veggie Pizza

The Chefs: Lyndsay

The Menu: A slice of pizza topped with red onion, olives, mushroom, green pepper, and Daiya, with a side salad made with romaine lettuce, slow-cooked beets, and Parma—actually, there's Parma on everything.

The Goods: After having some issues with a recipe last night, my partner and I had to make a decision, and that decision was pizza. An hour later, our local pizzeria delivered our cheeseless pie, which I quickly topped with my own supply of Daiya. Sometimes you do what you gotta do, I say. I also say that you should hurry and purchase your tickets to the VegNews Book Bash with Spork Foods before they sell out. Happy Friday!

Chilly Chili

The Chef: Kailey

The Menu: An absolutely delicious chili! Kailey based her three-bean wonder on a recipe from The Engine 2 Diet, which she noted was easy to follow. The results were utterly scrumptious, and we heartily topped them with cheddar-style Daiya. Alongside, Kailey served a lovely mixed-greens salad with avocado and halved cherry tomatoes, and nice thick slices of rustic bread. Did we joyously top the whole shebang with Parma!? Yes, indeed we did.

The Goods: While the weather outside today might have been slightly more chilly than we would have liked, we braved it for the experience of dining al fresco for the first time in what seems like weeks. Thankfully, the commenting was red hot on yesterday's post, and we'd like to congratulate Big Mama on winning the first of five Go Vegan! 2010 Calendars by the lovely Sarah Kramer. Big Mama, send us an email with your name and address, and we'll send out your calendar! So, how can you try and win today's calendar? Leave a comment below about your favorite vegan chili recipe!

Black Beans and Sticky Rice

The Chef: Kailey

The Menu: A quick, healthy meal of red-pepper-infused black beans with sticky rice and a huge, fresh spinach salad with zucchini, wax beans, and sunflower seeds. Kailey adapted one of her favorite spicy beans recipes to fit what was on-hand in the VNHQ kitchen, which worked out just about perfectly. And in case you were wondering, if your rice is lagging for some reason, you can totally get away with serving it before it's completely done just by calling it "sticky rice." Brilliant!

The Goods: Maybe we put the requisite ten pounds of Parma! on this meal. Maybe the accepted thinking around the office is that it's totally OK to pile on as much Parma! as you like, since, you know, it's got your B-12, which we hear is important. Though this happened after lunch had officially concluded, some goods arrived in the form of a case of Dandies. Maybe some of us are dead in sugar comas right now, and couldn't be happier about it.

Frittata Florentine

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: An Italian-leftovers-inspired meal! Today's frittata combined some leftover pasta, a blend of tofu and garbanzo beans, and sautéed cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spinach. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, about a ton of Parma got mixed in there, too. To help colorize the plate, Elizabeth made a big kale salad with red cabbage, apple, carrot, avocado, and pumpkin seeds. What topped this multicolor creation? You guessed it: more Parma. (And a little flax-seed oil and apple cider vinegar, you know, so that we could call it a "dressing.")

The Goods: Everything sounds better in Italian, no? Leftover pasta tossed with stuff suddenly becomes "frittata" and since we happened to have spinach on hand, "florentine" made today's dish sound extra fancy. In case anyone is wondering, if you're trying to flip your frittata in one fell swoop, it's likely best not to create one solid piece that's bigger than your own head. Was Elizabeth thankful that there weren't any cameras around while she was trying to flip hers today, with two undersized spatulas? Yes, yes she was.